Caricom Pledging Conference

22 November 2017, New York, USA | South-South News — Speaking to a CARICOM-UN High-Level Pledging Conference, Secretary-General António Guterres today (21 Nov) said countries disproportionally vulnerable to disasters “must be able to access financing on terms and conditions that are appropriate to their specific needs and circumstances.”

The Secretary-General said “it used to be rare to see so many storms of such strength. But unfortunately, just as climate scientists predicted, this is becoming the new normal – even sooner than expected.”

The Prime Minister of Barbuda, Gaston Alfonso Browne, told the meeting that “liability for the destruction of Barbuda and the dislocation of its residents resides those who continue to use fossil fuels excessively; those whose carbon emissions have unleashed the demons of climate change.”

For his part, the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, said “the science of climate change shows that the warming of the seas is leading to more rapidly intensifying and wetter storms. Consequently, no commercial insurance firm would offer the insurance we need. Insurance works best when risks are uncorrelated and random. We must now accept the fact that with climate change, this is guaranteed to change.”